russian kirov class warships are not as great as you think
the kirov class soviet designation project 1144 orlan or sea eagle is
a class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers of the soviet navy and russian navy
the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships in operation in the world
among modern warships they are second in size only to large aircraft carriers and of similar
size to a world war one era battleship the soviet classification of the ship type is
heavy nuclear power guided missile cruiser the ships are often referred to as battle
cruisers by western defense commentators due to their size and general appearance
the appearance of the kirov class played a key role in the recommissioning of the iowa class
battleships by the united states navy in the 1980s the kirov class hull design was also used for the
soviet nuclear-powered command and control ship ssv 33 ural the cure of class's main weapons are
20 p 700 granite ssn 19 shipwreck missiles mounted in deck designed to engage large surface targets
air defense is provided by 12 octopul s-300f launchers with 96 missiles and a pair of osa
ma batteries with 20 missiles each piotr veliki carries some s-300 fm missiles
and is the only ship in the russian navy capable of ballistic missile defense
the ships had some differences in sensor and weapon suites kirov came with ssn14 anti-submarine
warfare or asw missiles while on subsequent ships these were replaced with three k-95 kinzhal
surface-to-air missile or sam systems the kinzhal installation is in fact mounted further forward
of the old ssn14 mounting and the structure directly behind the blast shield for the bow
mounted rbu asw rocket launcher kirov and fruins had 8 30 millimeter ak-630 close-in
weapon systems which were supplanted with the cortic air defense system on later ships
other weapons are the automatic 130 millimeter ak-130 gun system except in kirov which had
two single 100 millimeter or four inch guns instead 10 21 inch or 533 millimeter torpedo
slash missile tubes and you'd have one with 40 anti-submarine rockets and two sex tuple rbu
1000 launchers russia is developing a new anti-ship missile to equip kirovs called
the 3m22 tsircon which is capable of traveling at hypersonic speeds out to at least 620 miles
history
originally built for the soviet navy the class is named after the first of a series of four ships
constructed admiral yusukov named kirov until 1992. original plans called for construction of
five ships the fifth vessel was planned to be named fleet admiral of the soviet union
kuznetsov also referred as desorzinski the name was later changed to oktaya brezzkaia revolucia
or october revolution and then just kuznetsov but on october 4th 1990 plans for construction
of a fifth vessel were abandoned the lead ship of the class kirov renamed admiral ushakov in 1992
was laid down in june 1973 at leningrad's baltinski naval shipyard launched on the
27th of december 1977 and commissioned on the 30th of december 1980. when she appeared for the
first time in 1981 nato observers called her balcom1 she is currently in reserve
kirov suffered a reactor accident in 1990 while serving in the mediterranean sea repairs were
never carried out due to lack of funds and the changing political situation in the soviet union
could russia's kirov class battle cruiser beat america's best battleship
built in the late 1980s the kirov class battle cruisers were designed like much
of the soviet navy at the time to neutralize american carrier battle groups during warfare
in 1988 the uss iowa loses limping away to fight another day still that's not all exactly bad news
for the americans kirov was forced to expend its missiles against a battleship that didn't sink
and wasn't able to fulfill its primary mission of sinking aircraft carriers or salvaging nato's
atlantic convoys kirov returns to her home port to rearm but thanks to the carriers that were
saved there may not be a port to go home to world war iii has begun with armies of the soviet union
and the rest of the warsaw pact pouring over the inter-german border their destination the
rhine river and beyond dealing nato and knockout blow that will end the war meanwhile at sea an
equally titanic battle is about to take place a soviet kirov class battle cruiser attempting
to intercept a u.s navy carrier battle group is intercepted by the battleship uss iowa the
biggest ship against ship battle since the world war ii is about to begin built in the late 1980s
the kirov class battle cruisers were designed like much of the soviet navy at the time to
neutralize american carrier battle groups during warfare american aircraft carriers were a threat
to not only the soviet mainland but also moscow's nuclear missile submarines and were to be taken
out as quickly as possible a secondary mission of the kirov class was his commerce raider designed
to cut the flow of american and canadian ground reinforcements to the battleground in europe
the purpose of the battlecruisers was to attack and they were all well suited for the task
each carried 20 enormous p-700 granite anti-ship missiles each a granite missile weighed more than
15 000 pounds this was enough to include 1 653 pound high explosive warhead enough fuel
to give it a range of 300 miles at bach 2.5 in both inertial and active radar guidance
initial targeting data would be provided by the space based legenda satellite targeting
system shore based aircraft shipboard helicopters or the battle cruiser itself
the kirov class were the largest surface warships built since the end of world war
ii each displaced 24 000 tons and measured 826 feet long nearly as long as an aircraft
carrier nuclear powered they could cruise indefinitely at speeds of up to 32 knots
the kirov cruisers were also designed to be self-sufficient in anti-air weapons
the overall armament forming a layered defense system each carried 96 s-300f
long-range surfaced air missiles and naval adaptation of the land-based s-300 system
the ships also carried 192 3k95 short-range surface-to-air missiles
based on the tor and 44 k-33 missiles based on the osa as a last resort the ships had six
ak-630 close-in weapon systems equipped with 30 millimeter gatling guns the iowa's main armament
consisted of three massive gun turrets each housing three 16-inch guns each gun could have a 1
900 pound armor-piercing shell to a range of 20 miles the guns could make quick work of any modern
warship except for perhaps another battleship but they have to get the target in range first
the iowa ships were heavily armored as battleships should be with just over a foot
of steel protection at the waterline bulkheads were protected by 11 inches of steel and the
main guns had nearly 20 inches of steel armor the ships were powered by four steam turbines giving
them a top speed of 32.5 knots in fact the only range at which iowa can really win a fight with
kirov is within 20 miles when the ship's 9 16-inch guns can come into play at that range the kirov is
indisputably dead meat sent quickly to the bottom by the battleship's big guns still as satisfying
as such an engagement would be it's hard to see how the soviets would let an iowa get that close
our 1988 hypothetical engagement is an example of the superiority of guns over missiles in certain
scenarios guns at least conventional guns just don't have the reach of modern missiles
certain advances since then including railgun weaponry and the long-range anti-ship missile el
rassom could breathe new life into a battleship platform but that's an argument for another day
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